Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-09-02

/ the river miss, said Maria. THE rivers
just raging full under its ice coat, | should
MT wonder, and is letting itself out through
the land" And as she spoke there came a
great shock and thrill rumble, a roar,
and mighty burst of sound.
"Great mercy, miss ~ cried Jane, cts
the ice cracking and rending from shore TO
shore. / never heard the like before, many
springs as have lived beside it, ;" and be
fore she had done speaking the sound came
again-the sound of great guns, the trem-
| bling of an earthquake.
1T is an earthquake" said l. ut must
be- But earthquakes up here don't amount
TO anything"
"Thats no earthquake" cried Jane And
then we sat there an hour or more, looking
out on the river, and listening to the sounds,
and wondering, and telling stories Of earth
quakes and hardships and what not,
curdling our blood as we talked. And at
last Thomas came in he had been down the
lane to the highway, and person who had
come from up-cOuntry had told him that
the freshet was on the river, and the high
water had carried away Ford's Mills a doz-
en- miles above us"
"But how can it do that ~ said l. "How
can there be freshet where it's all ice ~
Just because it is all ice, miss, - said
/
try, and the frozen river down here is Civ
ing the water no outlet. Half the country
between here and there'll be ahoat before
morning" And then came the dull roar
and rumble, the shock, the thrill the ex
plosion once more.
"Why, this is terrible" said 1. 1T
seems as il elemental things were at work ;
as il the earth were splitting and opening" "
| And while we waited and shivered, as one
after another Of the great explosions came,
the door opened so quickly as to make US
start, and Mrs. Sawyer ran in, her face as
white as ashes.
"a messenger has Just gone galloping
by" she gasped my husband met him.
He says the dam at the falls has been car
ried away and the mayor of Fallstown has
sent word by him to the mayor of Harbor
bar to look out for his bridges"
And the explosions, said Bryan, join
ing us, for we were all looking out now, in
the late twilight, at the long glass door
opening on the river, above which purp-
ling mist was hung, "is the Fallstown peo
| pie trying to break up the ice below them
with dynamite. guess we are in for it. j"
IL don't know what we are going to do, -
cried Mrs. Sawyer "Of course the mo-
ment the ice breaks up and goes sweeping
down it will make for the first outlet, and
that is on these low grass lands-running
in here on the very first low shore along
the whole course of the river. 1t is terri
flying. If it were only daylight l wouldn't
mind it so much. We could see our way
We could see what was coming. We should
know where we were and what 10 do. But
in the dark You had better come over 10
our house, Nan, and whatever we do we
will all do together Mercifu powers /!
what was that =
1t was only the wind coming up-that
strong, sweet south wind. 1t had broken
a bough from the old elm that had fallen
on the house, and at the same moment the
last explosion Of the dynamite sounded
But it was enough. Mrs. Sawyer's words
were ringing in my ears. In the dark, all
at once | thought | could see the torrent of
broken ice, the great blocks and sheets of
pointed jagged ice, lifting themselves into
one huge wall, and sweeping round the
bend and up the land pushed by the mighty
swelling of the tide behiud-mounting
grinding sweeping across all this low in
| terval, over which it would crash and pour
and flow, TO find the river at point below
| and reach the sea The rush of the great
| black cold waters was already upon me,
the sound Of them in my ears, the blowing
| Of the wide dark water breath. | felt my
self helpless straw before them. | did
not wait an instant. | never thought of
the others. l was not conscious of any
thought at all but screamed, and turned
and dashed out of the house and down the
lane, as fast, as breathessly, as | could
race, through the mire and slush, and up
the narrow road into the wood, feeling still
that chill water breath blowing on me,
hearing the terrible sound of the rasping,
piling, tumbling, roaring ice, and l never
stopped till fell painting and breathless at
somebody's feet, with the warm breath of
a great stag hound in my face, and was be-
ing lifted up in somebody's arms, and saw,
when l opened my eyes, by the light of the
young yellow moon through the wood, that
it was Mark, and he was kissing me with a
kiss as long as the space that had separated
US. ooh, Mark Mark !" l cried, "save
me save me The freshet is coming it
is close upon us we are all drowning
Take me up to your house, to your dear old
high house, and don't let me ever leave it..
Oh, Mark, | loved you all the time Take
me home. Don't let me go again. For
give me love me. | don't see how you
can love anybody so wiful and vixenish
and selfish and hateful but oh you must
you must ~
II am taking you home said he, as soon
as he had the chance. Do you suppose |
will let you go again l shall have to for
give you. What else is there for me TO do
| have heard about the freshet was just
on my way to you. We will have the min
lister up this very evening if we can get
him, and you shall never so much as go out
Of my arms again.
And he did. And here l am, perfectly
happy in this fortress, this prison on a rock
this dungeon-so happy that have not yet
been able to bring my shocked nerves tc
the pass even of going down to the grass
lands, where Mark goes down and manages
everything for me-
And the freshet Oh, to be sure Why,
you see, that south wind shifted to easterly
and it froze again that night. And wher
it melted, it melted so gently that the ice
went out of the river without anybody
knowing it. And there never was any
freshet. et.-HdIper's Bdzdr.